


5 Disagreements That They Resolved, And 1 That They Haven't (Yet)

by Charlotte_Lancer



Series: Piland Fics [2]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: 5+1 Things, Academy Era, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Halloween, M/M, Not Beta Read, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-31 04:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17842589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlotte_Lancer/pseuds/Charlotte_Lancer
Summary: Academy-era fluff with a small side of angst.





	5 Disagreements That They Resolved, And 1 That They Haven't (Yet)

**Author's Note:**

> For a fluffy, happy ending, skip the +1. It's the one with the double black line before it.

It was Freshman move-in day at the Academy, and the halls were abuzz with the sounds of new cadets carrying in their belongings, setting up furniture, and chatting with new friends and roommates. 

 

Pike, however, couldn't quite hear what was going on outside his room. He and his new roommate, Leland, had been  _ discussing _ how to arrange their room for the better part of the last hour, and there seemed to be no resolution in sight.

 

“Let's just flip a coin. If we don’t figure this out soon we're not going to have  _ time _ to set up the beds, and I for one do not want to sleep on the floor.” Leland pulled a coin out of his pocket to illustrate his point, holding it forward for Pike to see.

 

“Fine. I call heads.” Leland nodded at Pike's words, and tossed the coin up high. It flipped through the air over and over itself, before landing on the one table they had already set up, perfectly upright on its edge. Pike looked at it. Leland looked at it. They both stared in disbelief at the coin, before turning to each other.

 

“Well,” said Leland, laughing, “I guess the coin wants us to compromise.”

 

“It certainly looks that way.” Leland’s laugh was contagious, and Pike couldn’t help but smile at his new roommate. Maybe they’d be a good match after all.

 

They left the coin there as they began looking over both of their proposed furniture arrangements, seeking to combine them as best as possible. 

* * *

 

Pike was laying on the small couch in their dorm room, gazing out the window with datapad in hand. Initially Pike hadn’t been convinced that putting the couch under the window was the best place for it, but now, looking out at the stars that dotted the night sky over San Francisco, he couldn’t think of a better place for it.

 

He’d mentioned as much to Leland the first time he’d noticed the view. Leland’s smile had practically lit up the room, and since then Pike had not been shy about pointing out the stars whenever there was a cloudless night. Tonight was particularly clear, and if Pike concentrated hard enough, he could imagine that he was seeing the stars up close, from the window of a brand new ship instead of from his place on the small couch.

 

He was pulled out of his daydream by the sound of the door creaking open. Leland was as quiet as possible as he crept into the room, likely assuming that Pike was already asleep. Pike shifted on the couch, setting the datapad aside on the table.

 

“Hey, Leland. Your test just getting out now?” Pike knew that midterms could take a while to finish, but it was nearly 22:00 now.

 

“No, I went to the library after the test. Astrophysics test on Friday, figured I get some more studying in for that while I had the time.” Right, Astrophysics, Pike had forgotten about that one. Well, he was sure he’d do fine. “The night is still young, though. If you’re awake, we should go out and have some fun.”

 

“No, I think I’d rather stay here tonight.”

 

“You sure? It’s a really nice night out. We could go stargazing by the beach.” As nice as that sounded, Pike was too tired from his own midterms to have any desire to leave the comfort of the couch.

 

“Come here for a second, Leland.” When Leland was within reach, Pike tugged him closer by the bottom of his jacket. “We can stargaze here. And there’s also  _ other _ things we can do here, that we can’t do on the beach.” Pike grinned up at Leland, and was pleased to the the same smile mirrored on his friend’s face.

 

Leland settled himself down onto the couch, squeezing himself in next to Pike. Silently, Pike laced their hands together, and grinned when he felt Leland’s gentle squeeze of his hand.

* * *

 

“We are  _ not _ dressing as  _ that _ for the dorm Halloween party.” The costumes that Leland was holding up were beyond Pike’s ability to describe. They were  _ awful _ , with faded robes, strange wigs, and what appeared to be long rods of plastic hanging from the waistline.

 

“Come on, these movies are classics! Have you really never seen them?”

 

“Someone put  _ those _ outfits in a movie?  _ On purpose _ ?”

 

“C’mon, we’re having a movie marathon.” Leland grabbed him by the wrist, leading him towards the door. 

 

“ _ Now _ ? Leland, it’s 23:00.”

 

“It’s Friday, Christopher, and you have  _ got _ to see these movies. Well, some of them, anyway.” Leland stopped just before their door, and turned to face Pike, waiting for approval. Pike nodded, and let himself be dragged off by an overly-excited Leland.

  
  


7 hours later, the credits rolled on the final movie. Pike turned to Leland, and said,

 

“So who’s going as who?”

* * *

 

 

“Do we really have to go to the Valentine’s dance, Christopher?”

 

“It’ll be fun, Leland. Where’s your holiday spirit?”

 

“I must have forgotten to pack that.”

 

“ _ Leland _ .” Pike stared at Leland, half amused and half frustrated with Leland’s inexplicable distaste for the holiday.

 

“The Valentine’s dance is just going to be full of freshman, like it was last year when  _ we _ were freshman. Why do you even want to go?”

 

“Maybe I just want to show you off, Leland. Let all the freshman know that you’re  _ mine _ .” Leland blushed at Pike’s rare display of possessiveness.

 

“Well, when you put it like that…” Leland grinned, leaning down to pull Pike in for a kiss. Pike met him halfway, wrapping his arms around Leland’s waist.

* * *

 

They were drunk. There was no two ways around it; they were drunk enough that they had forgotten the way back to their room, and had decided to relax in the courtyard instead.

 

They were sitting on a stone bench that had gone cool in the night air, leaning against each other to stop their dizzying swaying.

 

“I love you, Christopher.”

 

“Love you more, Leland.”

 

“Love you most.”

 

“Well, I love you the, uh, most-est.”

 

“That's not a word, Le.”

 

“Well it’s true. I love you, Christopher.”

 

“I love you, too, Leland. Even if you think ‘most-est’ is a word.”

 

They were both had wide smiles stretched across their faces, illuminated by the dim moonlight and safety lights dotted on the edges of nearby buildings. 

 

Tomorrow there would be hangovers to deal with, classes to go to, and tests to study for, but tonight… tonight, all that mattered was each other. 

* * *

* * *

  
  


Pike could tell from the second Leland entered their room that something was wrong. Leland's smile was forced, the same sham smile he used to charm his way out of trouble, not the bright, real one that reached his eyes and lit up his face.

 

“What's wrong, Le?”

 

“I was offered a posting today. A brand new ship, set to launch soon after graduation.” Leland didn’t meet his eyes as he spoke, instead studying a faded spot on the carpet. 

 

“But that should be great news, Leland! You always said you wanted a posting on a ship.” Maybe Leland had decided he'd rather stay planetside after all? “Do you not want to accept it? Because I'm sure you'll be offered plenty of positions before the semester is over.”

 

“It’s not that. I don't want to refuse it. But I can’t have the position and still have you, Christopher.” There were tears threatening to spill from Leland’s eyes, glistening on his lashes.

 

“Leland, I know long-distance can be hard, but we love each other, we can make this work.” Pike walked forward to take Leland into his arms, running a soothing hand down the other man’s back. “You can have both, Leland, I promise.”

 

Leland laid his head on Pike's shoulder, hugging Pike tighter to him at the same time. Pike could feel that he was crying now, could hear it as Leland said,

 

“You don't understand, Christopher. I'm not even supposed to be telling you this much, but I couldn't leave without telling you why. It’s not-” he broke off, swallowing loudly, “It’s not a regular position they're offering me. It’s Section 31.”

 

Pike stiffened. He’d heard the rumors of Section 31, like every cadet at the Academy. Heard the rumors of  what they did, of  _ how _ they did what they did.

 

Of what happened if you refused their offer.

 

“Oh, Le…” He laid his own head down on Leland, all the words suddenly stolen from his tongue. He guided them backwards to the couch, and for one final night they fell asleep wrapped around each other.

  
  


When Pike woke in the morning, there was no evidence that the room had ever held another occupant. He walked over to his bed, and sat by the pillow. He pulled the drawer of his bedside table open, and moved aside the notebooks and papers that cluttered the top of the drawer.

 

He stared down at the small box that lay at the bottom. After a moment he let his head fall forward into his arms, the tears that had been absent last night finally falling in the silent room.

**Author's Note:**

> ...and I made myself sad. I don't usually write anything angsty, but these two just really lend themselves to it so well.
> 
> ...Man, I really hope Leland doesn't end up being some sort of relative of Pike's.


End file.
